Yet for more than a month this fall, the sixth-grader gave up his Cinnamon Toast Crunch for scrambled egg whites, fruit roll-ups for real fruit, and soda for a whole lot of water.

With his parents' help, Andrew dropped 16 pounds this fall -- reducing his weight from 108 -- to meet the weight requirement to play for the College Park Hornets. The peewee football team, with a 95-pound limit for 11-year-olds, is sponsored by the suburban Prince George's County (Md.) Boys & Girls Club, which organizes its leagues by weight and age.

"It's worth it. I like playing football," said Andrew, 4-foot-6 and solid as a tree stump. Ann and David Dillard said they made sure their son got the proper nutrition as he dropped the pounds.

But a growing number of coaches and health professionals are questioning the wisdom and safety of the age/weight tables, some of which haven't been altered for years, that govern youth football. Higher rates of childhood obesity make it difficult for many kids to qualify for teams, prompting them to try what can be unhealthy or dangerous weight-loss regimens.

"We see children who are getting dehydrated because they are trying to make a weight for football, wrestling or gymnastics," said Rebecca Demorest, medical director of pediatric sports medicine at Children's Hospital. "I have no problem with cutting out sweets or McDonald's, but putting a child on a low-carb diet can cause problems. Kids need protein, fat and carbohydrates."

Pop Warner football, which has 240,000 players nationwide, uses less-stringent weight tables with a sliding scale based on growth charts issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Had Andrew been playing in Pop Warner's Peewee division, he could have qualified without having to shed a pound -- the maximum weight is 110.

"We have a lot of new kids who came to Pop Warner this year because our weight requirements are more realistic in terms of age and weight. Kids are just born bigger these days," said Carol Hampton, vice president for the PG Storm, a Pop Warner team in Clinton, Md.

But Joe Warren, longtime executive director of the Prince George's club, said he is not inclined to make major changes to the age/weight scales.

"We revisited the issue a year ago and we added five pounds to our scale, but unless we have some sufficient data, I am not recommending any changes," he said. "We realize that some kids aren't going to be able to play football -- either they are too heavy when they are young or too light when they are old."

For the Dillards, the issue was a little boy with a small frame, a big heart and a passion for football.

"Andrew has been wanting to play football for quite some time, but we have been putting him off because my husband and I were worried that he was too small," said Ann Dillard, a schoolteacher.

Then, at a back-to-school night in September, he spotted a sign for Boys & Girls Club football.

A few days later, David Dillard, a computer specialist, took Andrew to the College Park Hornets' practice field. The Hornets, like other Boys & Girls Club teams, have three squads classified by weight and age. Andrew could have qualified for a 95-pound team, which has a maximum weight of 110 for 11-year-olds. But a squad that size wasn't available at College Park, and the Dillards wanted Andrew close to home.

Bill Corboy, coach and commissioner for the College Park teams, allowed Andrew to practice during the week with the 85-pound squad, but on game-day Saturdays, he had to stay home. David Dillard said he felt for his crestfallen son because "some technocrat says he is too heavy."

So the Dillards decided to help.

"We cut out all junk food and snacking and sodas," Ann Dillard said.

"We did away with fruit roll-ups; we did away with sugary soda, Pop Tarts," she said. "Instead of getting juice drinks, I shopped for 100 percent juice with no added sugar. Candy was put away."

She said she "just basically followed the food pyramid. I knew we had to cut some carbs out. I tried to push protein, vegetables and fruit."

By Oct. 13, Andrew weighed 95 pounds on the family's scale. But when Andrew got on the club's official scale, he weighed 98 -- three pounds over.

"We knew the home scales were off, but we didn't know it was off that much," his father said.

Andrew would have one last chance to play because the final official weigh-in was Oct 21. Early that morning, David Dillard drove him to the club's main offices to be weighed before eating breakfast and going to school.

Andrew got on the scale, and the club official uttered words the boy says he will never forget: "You weigh 92!"

"I was happy. I was finally on the team," said Andrew, who found some cream-filled cookies in his packed school lunch that day.That night, with Andrew in the lineup, the College Park Hornets, who had lost all four games that season, won their first game in two years, beating the Lanham Raiders, 14-0.